Come February 8, Chennai will wake up to the thunder of Formula cars, as has been the case in the past.Other cities in India have also made some efforts to bring in some racing action. Juhu in Mumbai, Safdarjung in New Delhi, Barrackpore in Calcutta and Kolar near Bangalore, have hosted several events in the past.But it has been Chennai which has always been in the forefront of motorsport in India. Sholavaram, a fishing hamlet near Chennai, with its abandoned airfield, became synonymous with the sport.Sholavaram was the birth-place of many an Indian motorsport legend, like the Maharajkumar of Gondol, Karivardhan, Chubi Lalwani, Sheriff Dyan and Vicky Chandhok, and, more recently, N Leela Krishnan, J Anand, Akbar Ebrahim and Narayan Karthikeyan.Since 1990, the action has shifted to a new track which was built to international standards, at Irungattukottai, about 30 kms from Chennai, on the National highway to Bangalore.McDowell has been an active promoter of the sport from 1985 and was instrumentalin the development of the new track and also the running of the annual All-India McDowell Grand Prix.Two years ago, McDowell brought the Formula Asia Series to India, and also promoted the likes of Akbar Ebrahim, who had reasonable success on the Asian Circuit, and Narayan Karthikeyan, who has been making waves on the Formula-3 circuit.This year, McDowell is bringing the Formula Campus cars to the country as part of the talent search and development programme promoted by Elf. The Indian leg will consist of 16 cars prepared to give an equal opportunity to all the drivers. Eight of these cars would be driven by upcoming Indian drivers and one of them will be selected for the other legs and also the F3 Series.Thus, this week-end, the country will witness some thrilling international racing action with the nation's best challenging professionals from abroad on an equal footing. It promises plenty of action with Formula motorcycles in 250cc and 125cc from abroad, and also the 1300cc salon cars which havebeen in action in the National Rally championship.Adding a touch of glamour will be the McDowell's Centenary Race for corporate tycoons who will be occupying the hot seat of a different kind!
